I am the Principal and founder of Dow Brook Advisory Services, where I advise enterprise software vendors on product roadmap, positioning and messaging, go-to-market, and merger and acquisition strategies.
I am also an internationally recognized expert on the application of information management technologies to drive high-value business transformation.
My research and consulting work is focused on collaboration and knowledge management practices in the technology domains of enterprise social software, unified communication and collaboration, enterprise portals, document and content management, and business process management.

For those who don’t follow pro football closely, the stalemate between the league and the referees over the latter’s salary levels and retirement plan format was not settled this summer. With the dispute continuing as the preseason was set to begin, the NFL decided to lock out the referees and replace them with officials from the lower levels of college and high school football. These replacement referees proved to be inadequate, and their incompetence changed the course and, in at least one case, outcome of games. In the face of a major blow to its business, the NFL relented yesterday, settling the labor dispute with the regular referees and clearing them to resume officiating games this weekend.

What has the NFL likely learned from the disasterous decision to lock out the referees? That they are a networked business? No, league officials probably understood that prior to the stalemate. Based on its words and actions, the NFL has long realized that the business of professional football is a network of various interests. Internal network nodes include the league staff, team owners, coaches, players and referees. External network members include television broadcasting companies, merchandise manufacturers and retailers, concessions providers and sellers and, last but certainly not least, fans.

The NFL's Business Network

I believe the NFL has learned that it is very easy to miscalculate the power and value of various network members and that doing so can produce catastrophic outcomes. In the case of the referees, the league correctly assessed that it had superior bargaining power over the NFLRA in the labor dispute, hence the decision to lock out the referees when negotiations stalled. However, the league grossly underestimated the value that the regular referees create. The large number of incorrect and missed calls made (or not) by the replacement referees showed just how valuable and important the experience and judgement of the regular referees is to professional football. Not having the best possible referees on the field severely damaged the integrity of the game and the NFL brand. It also put players at risk of physical injury. When the NFL finally (replacement referees worked the entire preseason and the first three weekends of the regular season) realized how badly it had miscalculated the value produced by the regular referees, the league moved quickly to end the lock out.

However, the NFL would not have acted to resolve the dispute last night if it weren’t for the unrelenting and increasing pressure to do so that it received from other members of its business network. The league failed to realize that, as in most networked businesses, the balance of power in profession football is increasingly shifting from the dominant network node – the NFL commissioner and his staff – toward the edge nodes. Armed with the same communication tools as the league, the fans, players, coaches, players, team owners and television broadcasters made better use of them than the NFL. Perhaps the most powerful leverage was created by fans (and players, to some extent) who used social media to voice their disgust with the state of professional football and declare that they would no longer consume the product in its current state.

Front line employees who produce value and, especially, the customers who pay for it are becoming the dominant nodes in nearly every business network. The NFL learned this the hard way. Will your business make the same mistake? I hope not.

Now, if only the league would overturn the replacement referees’ horrendous mistake on the final play of Monday night’s game and give my beloved Packers the victory they deserved…

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